


Karma Police

by JUS_kiddin



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:13:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JUS_kiddin/pseuds/JUS_kiddin
Summary: Kara Zor-El rebels against her cousin’s legacy, his ideals, and his paranoia towards all Luthors.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 14
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HarukaSama76](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarukaSama76/gifts).



> I own nothing, but I am having fun.

Bikes. Bodies. Liquor. It was another Friday night with a full moon smiling down at the crowd of adrenaline junkies that came in all shapes, sizes, and species. The general mood that carried throughout the crowd could be described as eager.

What’s with the shitty face?” Kate Kane smirked at her scowling friend. She sat atop her bike as the let a long pair of legs in black stockings pull her gaze away from Kara’s scowl. 

“How do you even know what my face looks like when you’re so preoccupied,” Kara said as she picked up her helmet. “Pick up your jaw Casanova.” Kara Zor-El wiped her hand at imaginary drool, “You might want to clean yourself up, too.”

Kate didn’t shame easily as she put her helmet over her head seconds after Kara. The legs that Kate had been admiring belonged to a leggy caramel skinned woman with her locs tied up in a high bun. She would be dropping the flag for the row of riders for the race.

Kara had been dragged from the comfort of Kate’s couch into an unwelcoming Gotham night. She really had nothing to do, which gave Kate the wrong idea about how to liven up the mood. The woman hating sitting still and Kara was a good friend and an enabler. 

She followed Kate to King’s Town, a place where even the police avoided for self preservation. Kara didn’t fear the weirdos, psychos, and sadists. If anything she felt more at home with them, which is why she didn’t mind being pulled from the comfort of her couch and her potstickers just because Kate couldn’t stand the thought of wasting away on the couch.

Kara was pulled away from her thoughts of potstickers when the flagged dropped. The route was five miles starting in King Town and ending up back in King Town by way of a few reputable establishments where the elite of Gotham City dined. That really was the best part.

Kara watched the other riders gun forward. She and Kate stayed in the back. In the next block the scenery changed and cars and pedestrians began to make the game difficult. Kate took a left turn into oncoming traffic. Unwilling to be outdone in this competition of recklessness Kara followed suit. They weaved in and out of traffic surrounding by the wails of honking cars and hoots from strangers who were entertained or unamused. 

They veered left hitting the one mile mark as they crashed through a mall much to the chagrin of a mall cop. Kara circled him and he twisted failing to keep up. He only managed to make himself dizzy dropping to his knees and vomiting his dinner.

Kara’s tires screeched as she followed the sound of the other racers. Poor mall cop, she chuckled to herself and she sped away.

Life was all about the small pleasures, Kara leaned into the vehicle on a right turn as her motorcycle roared over laughter.

*

Yelling. 

Kara swallowed as she snuggled deeper into the couch cushions. She blinked at the clock on the wall and closed her eyes again when she realized what time it was. Her and Kate had gotten in almost two hours ago.

Yep. It’s too early for yelling.

“I really worry because you’re judgment calls of late are incredibly questionable. Someone could have gotten hurt.”

“Did they?” Kate asked. Kara stifled a laugh when she heard her friend slurp obnoxiously. She could picture the hiked brows as she waited for her cousin’s answer.

“That really isn’t the point.”

“I don’t like to live in a world of ‘what if’. I’m more partial to ‘what is’. And this big brother routine you’ve adopted is ruining my zen.”

“Fuck your zen, Kate. Grow up.”

Kara doesn’t move an inch as she continued to fake sleep. The raised voice berating Kate belonged to Kate’s cousin Bruce Wayne. She wanted no parts on his morning lecture.

“I can’t help you if you make stupid choices like this,” his voice was strained. 

This wasn’t the first time he’d singled Kate out when headlines had a gang of joyriders disturbing the peace. It’s as if he has a sixth sense about these things. Then again it didn’t help that they borrowed his bikes from his garage to go out on their adventures. Kara didn’t have Kate or Bruce’s money. And Kate’s excuse leaned more towards garnering enjoyment from irritating the hell out of her cousin.

He was particularly upset about the attention, even though none of the riders could be identified, considering it came the same week that the Wayne family were in the middle of negotiations with the L-Corp.

Kara’s ears perked up at the sound of the famous family. She didn’t follow much news about the company, but being a guest of Kate’s she was privy to Lena Luthor’s rise in acclaim for her world changing technology. She wouldn’t admit to reading any articles about clinical neurophysiology technology to Kate, she’d never hear the end of it. In the privacy of her mind she was fascinated.

“Damn it Kate, I expect more from you.”

Kara groaned. It really was too early for all this yelling, which prompted Kara to fake a yawn and scratch her abs as she made her way to the kitchen. She didn’t try to cover herself, it would ruin the plan to make Bruce uncomfortable enough to leave.

“Papa Wayne,” she greeted him through a real yawn.

Bruce looked between an amused Kate and a indifferent Kara who began preparing a bowl of colorful cereal. 

“We have a meeting at The Tower with Lena Luthor. I want you there.” He said as he pulled out his phone. His fingers moved furiously over the device. He turned then to add, “I expect you to be there, Kate, no excuses.”

“Always a pleasure Papa Wayne,” Kara called after him. 

Kate scratched the crown of her head shifting the natural fall of her bed head.

“He’s right you know,” Kara said as she crunched on her cereal. “You’re wasting your God-given intelligence on wild nights you use to fill the void that empty one night stands and racing won’t fill.” Kara shifted her spoon in her bowl then picked up her spoon to point it to Kate. “You could cure herpes.” 

The seriousness in her expression didn’t crack until Kate threw a towel at her face. “Fuck off, Zor-El.”

“Are you going to play nice with Papa Wayne?” asked Kara. 

“Maybe.”

Kara shook her head knowing the hidden message hidden behind Kate’s ‘maybe’. “You should go.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Why?”

“Lena Luthor.”

Kate nodded her head in understanding. “She’s smart, attractive, wealthy...related to the arch nemesis of Superman.” Kate chuckled, “She seems more like your type than mine.”

Kara shakes another helping of cereal from her box. She pours milk. Before she raises her spoon with a mischievous smile. “She does sound like my type doesn’t she.”


	2. Chapter 2

Business. Lunch. A view of Gotham in all its gray glory. Lena Luthor hadn’t seen a blue sky since she left L-Corp and she’d begun to miss it. Her head was clear at home. She could breathe better, too. As much as she’d like to climb back in her jet there were some meetings she couldn’t pawn off on her underlings. 

Lena preferred the seclusion of the lab as opposed to attending meetings and giving speeches in front of a crowd of people waiting for her to screw up. Whether Bruce Wayne was cheering on her failure to rebrand the Luthor name, she wasn’t sure. There talks over the phone were amiable. Their vision for the world didn’t entirely align, but their interests in business matched well enough to warrant a lunch. She was in town and he was free. Why not? She thought to herself as Bruce walked up with another woman in tow, he introduced her as his eventual successor Kate Kane.

“Pleasure,” said Lena.

Kate gives her a tight smile. It’s in opposition to the professional aura of her cousin. Lena doesn’t let her affect her tone or her eagerness to discuss science. Fortunately, Bruce can keep up in terms of the potential for L-Corp technology. She reigns herself in when they receive their drinks and Kate yawns at the apex of her excitement.

Bruce scowls at the woman. Kate doesn’t seem impressed and plasters on another smile for the sake of placating the older man.

“I’ve heard great things from people in our mutual circles,” Bruce said from his menu. “You’re interviews don’t do your passion justice.”

“You’re too kind Mr. Wayne.”

“Bruce,” he corrected her.

“Would you two like to be alone?” Kate looked between the two with raised brows. 

“You’ll have to excuse Kate. She’s going through a rebellious phase.”

“I’m thirty,” she said incredulously.

“All the more reason for you to sit still and act like a grown up,” he scolded her through clenched teeth. His cell phone rang and he stood before he answered it. “I apologize,” he lifted his chin to Lena before sending a warning glade towards his cousin.

Lena sipped her lemon water. 

“So what do you do for fun? Spend all nighters in the library? Binge watch The Big Bang Theory? Play chess with an AI you created in your basement?”

“I can’t say I care for your humor or your irreverence for science.”

“It’s not irreverence. The subject puts me to sleep. The only reason I’m staying awake is because I promised one of your fangirls, who I’m ashamed to admit is my best friend, that I’d give her a play by play,” she held up her phone in explanation. “She thinks you’re brilliant by the way.”

“I don’t know anyone who would give a Luthor such high praise.”

Lena held herself regally. Her legs crossed and her chin rose at the same time as the corner of her lip twitched, as if suppressing a grin. Her straight back grew even straighter when her gaze shifted from her drink to Kate.

The table next to them came alive with excitement. A couple were fixed their gazes to the same window she used to admire the gray sky. The diners collected their phones and withdrew from the window where a body in a red mask hovered. 

Lena drew up as well landing into Kate who stumbled out of her own chair. Both women used their arms to cover themselves when the window glass shattered. 

A gust of wind sent their hair in their faces as the body in the red mask dropped to the ground. Red rope wrapped around their neck as they withdrew it and wrapped it around the neck of the nearest bystander.

“Please don’t hurt me. I...I’ve got a daughter.”

A gloved hand went around their neck. Red eyes glowed bright as the rope closed the woman’s airway.

In the precise moment her world began to get hazy four bodies in black and red coveralls filtered in through the entrance demanding money, jewelry, and other such valuables. Kate whipped her head back when a bag was pushed in her face.

Her jaw set and before she could show the robber how much she didn’t appreciate the move, Lena held her arm in place. 

“Don’t. Be. Stupid,” the Luthor said as she pulled off a two thousand dollar watch. Her eyes trained on the being that flew in and instigated this chaos.

They were on one of the highest buildings in Gotham. Someone most likely already called the authorities. Unless they planned to use Red Eyes to thwart apprehension they really didn’t think the heights thing through. 

Lena didn’t blink when those red eyes landed on her. The whimpering woman the leader had been terrorizing was sufficiently cowed. Lena watched the woman fold into the fetal position and cover herself as if she was waiting on a blow.

Lena thought Red Eyes might do it, at least a fist was clenched and poised for it.

“You took what you wanted. You’ve succeeded in giving us all a good scare,” she said too quickly for her mind to catch up with her mouth. Too late now, she thought as she committed. “Leave.”

“Now who’s being stupid?” Kate mumbled send furtive glances to the four people lining themselves up.

“Thirty seconds,” the shout is muffled and the thieves seems to be panicked.

Red Eyes stalked toward Lena Luthor the rope trailed behind the long body. The leader, Lena had begun to refer to as Red Eyes leaned in. Through the mask she could feel the whisper of heat coming from them along with a masculine smell Lena didn’t immediately shy away from. 

Lena had goosebumps down her neck. She didn’t dare move. Nor did she back down. Her back remained erect and while her head didn’t move her eyes followed the masked figure. 

“I wonder how a Luthor would taste? Sweet or sour,” the voice was distorted and mechanical. “You’re always so tall and in control. But you don’t fool me, all that sweetness has to go somewhere.”  
Red Eyes lowered their head suggestively.

Lena balked. “Go to hell.”

“I’ve been there. It’s not as hot you might think.”

“Time!” The muffled scream was followed by a body leaping out of the broken window. 

Lena saw it from the corner of her eye. Then her mouth opened in shock when she saw the other follow. They were black and red coveralls. There was no sign of parachutes. They’d surely die from the fall unless....

*

“Did you see the look on their faces?” Teodor spilled his celebratory Heineken in his excitement. “The Bat was missing from action. I know you were looking forward to a little more action,” he addressed the figure chewing on postickers with one foot up on the coffee table near the infamous Red mask and rope.

“How much did we get?” Kodee’s voice added excitedly.

Kara was content to eat as her crew buzzed from the high of robbing one of the highest restaurants in Gotham and free falling from it. Flying while carrying four bodies on a rope increased her already substantial appetite.

Teodor was the longest and heaviest of the bunch. He was all lean muscle which helped bring in the clients when he showed it off during calisthenics competitions.

Teodor turned on the new where the victims of their robbery were being interviewed by a lanky red head with a dimple in her chin. Chant joined them smelling like gasoline from the fire she lot to destroy their clothes. On the roof they kept a barrel especially for those purposes. Roe dunked his hand into a bag of popcorn as he stepped over the back of the couch.

They were vain criminals. didn’t care about the publicity. It wasn’t about the adrenaline rush either. The high for her was never as strong as her crew: Teodor, Kodee, Chant, and Roe. None of them were human, but they did bleed and bruise on ways Kara never could. They were actually at risk of losing something. A car accident when she thirteen showed her how impenetrable she was. She had the same strengths and weaknesses as her cousin with the exception of that moral code he wore with his integrity and cape.

A still of Bruce Wayne and Lena Luthor flashed across the screen as the notable victims of the most recent robbery in a string of high risk robberies. 

“You looked like you wanted to throw that Luthor through the wall,” said Chant as she began to strip on her way to the bathroom. 

Kara admired the expanse of skin. She liked Chant’s almost fluorescent skin. In the right light she looked to be made of glitter. 

Teodor grunted as he kicked Kara’s socked foot. “If you want to finish what you started I’m game.” 

Teodor hated humans. He had scars to remind him everyday of how inhospitable they could be. They weren’t on the outside scarring his body. They went deep under the skin. The pain was part of him in the same way it was part of Kara. It might be the reason why he thought he understood Kara’s response to Lena Luthor’s brief display of bravery. 

Kara couldn’t have broken her if she wanted. The glint in Teodor’s eyes told her he was ready to ruin someone else’s day for the sake of turning Kara’s frown upside down. 

He really was a good friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Irritated. Fascinated. Hungry as hell.  
Bruce, Lena, and Kate were escorted to a private conference room one floor below The Tower restaurant. Bruce’s close relationship with the police force afforded him these favors. He felt guilty, he wasn’t keen on subjecting Lena to the guarded looks of a precinct full of cops. He’d already corrected the media once when the wanted to use the Luthor name in the wrong context. It wasn’t a easy sell to throw Lena’s name out and let the conjecture begin. Was she just like her brother, brilliant and rotten and dangerous?

“This is one way to be baptized by Gotham,” Lena crossed her legs at the head of the conference table.

Bruce sat on the edge of the table to her right. One hand tucked into his pocket while the other scanned the day’s newsfeed. “This is the fourth place they hit on the past six months.” He released a heavy sigh and turned to his left. “I saw our business meeting going in an entirely different direction. Less robbery and more optimistic goals for the future.”

“It wasn’t your fault. Unless you knew The Tower was going to be robbed I believe I can let you off the hook,” Lena said gently.

Bruce had been apologizing for hours. He found time in between supplying statements from the police and thwarting reporters. Kate stood by half listening to Bruce, the businessman salvage the wrecked business meal.

“You know the saddest part about this? I still haven’t eaten,” she said.

Bruce’s face turned red. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Kate glanced at him then Lena Luthor, who decided to type on her phone instead of watch the cousins fight.

“People get robbed. Shit happens. Nobody in that room lost anything.”

“Peace of mind,” Lena sided with Bruce Wayne. “Before today I’m sure a majority of them woke up thinking this kind of thing wouldn’t happen to people like them.” Lena looked up from her phone. “Now they’ll have the images of people in black yelling at them, putting weapons in their faces and devaluing their worth to the jewel they wore for the day. No one will sleep soundly tonight and most likely no one will sleep as soundly as they did before today.”

Kate tilted her head, “Not even you?”

“I function on four hours of sleep. Whether I get that consecutively is completely dependent on my latest project. However, if I was going to lose sleep over the boogeyman, I know of things far worse than some bully with red eyes,” she set her jaw.

Kate looked like she believed her. Though another inquisitive party that had heard her statement wondered what it took to penetrate that wall Lena had guarding her other emotions. 

The short haired brunette looked down at her phone when she received an incoming text.

What is Lena Luthor afraid of?

She smirked at the question. She typed back quickly just before as the investigating officer came in. They shook hands with Bruce.

Not you.

Kara would take her two words as a challenge. Kate had known the alien for years and pushed for the friendship they had now. Kara had been explicit about her dislike for humans. There were some that intrigued her and even fewer that earned her respect. That had been an uphill road especially considering when they first met Kate had been face down in the pavement getting her ribs caved in by a jerk with steel toe boots. 

She had been helpless in the worst place to be helpless, King Town. If you can’t handle your shit there then you’ve got no business being there. No one was going to save you, which is why impromptu bets were made on a street fight between her and the jerk with the steel toe boots. 

“You don’t call for help in a place like this,” Kara told her when she crouched over her beaten and broken body. “So you’d better be prepared to do something drastic so you don’t end up like this.”

Kate might as well have been called pulverized meat. No one had stopped the fight her mouth had started. No one stopped to help with the exception of a curious alien, who perceived her just as she would a wounded animal. 

She had been so weak back then. She’d never be as strong as Kara, but she was stronger than the lump of nothing Kara carried Kate to her place.

*

Twenty minutes later Lena Luthor is sharing a navy blue Mercedes. The driver is on loan from Bruce Wayne. He couldn’t see her home safely, supposedly, this was the better alternative. Either way Lena was impressed by the gesture even though she smiled and accepted Bruce’s gesture graciously.

The smile has a purpose. She didn’t give them out freely. Bruce needed for Lena to accept this gesture more than she needed it. As she had said to Kate, who had looked at her curiously, she wasn’t afraid. There were worse things than thieves crashing through windows.

Her phone rang. Good news spread fast, Lena thought as she turned her phone over and leaned back into squealing leather. Lillian Luther didn’t do comfort.  
Lena didn’t have to open her eyes to put her phone silent. 

She isn’t asleep. She can’t sleep. Her brain has gone beyond craving the illusion of peace from sleep. Lena has graduated to recreational drugs to slow her locomotive mind. Her childhood was full of one diagnosis after another. Lionel was the only one worried for her sanity. Lillian was the one to come up with a solution, a pill. 

The lack of sleep pushed her towards madness at eight. Lillian’s pills turned her into an addict by nine. By fifteen she’d been in rehab eight different times. Lex always picked her up, apparently their parents couldn’t be pulled away from their lives.

Her eyes opened lazily. She’d been clean for a long time. The temptation lived under skin like a disease. Her mind was too loud. The driver asking her if she is alright gives her little comfort. She already knows she’s going to be wandering tonight.

“Do you know the city pretty well?” She asked the driver.

His thick neck turned. He glanced at Kate first. “I was born and raised in Gotham.” He sounded like he’d been smoking all his life too.

“What does one do for entertainment in Gotham?”

He never answered quickly. And every time he responded he looked to Kate, who didn’t seem to be listening to their conversation.

“That depends on what you find entertaining.” He listed restaurants, theatre’s, bars, and clubs while they were at a stoplight. He glanced in the mirror surveying the boredom plainly written on her face. He tried again, “Personally, when I need to get away from it all I go to Porto Santos.”

Kate’s head shot up.

Lena didn’t react to Kate waking up. “Is that in Brazil?”

The driver shook his head. “My brother-in-law took me there a year ago for my bachelor party. It’s all wires and tech and I wanted to smash his face in.” The car inched forward. “It’s not how I pictured spending my last night of freedom. I got in that chair and I still haven’t experienced anything like it. You’re not yourself, except you are, you know.”

Returning to an empty hotel seemed less appealing.

“You said wires and tech?” Lena pursued the part of the conversation that piqued her interest. It sounded like the type of crowd she could relate to if only briefly.

“Ferdinand, I’m sure she’s tired from the excitement,” Kate tried.

“My reaction to today’s excitement has quite the opposite effect,” she assured the other brunette with a smile. “You’ve been to this, Porto Santos?”

“She owns it.”

Lena was just bored enough to listen to the driver Ferdinand’s rave reviews. But it was the fact that Kate, who seemed less interested in business, owned an establishment that earned these rave reviews that got Lena curious. 

“I would love to see it,” Lena said to an reluctant Kate. “You would be saving me from hours of trash television and a memoir I’ve been actively avoiding. I brought none of my research because I wanted to give this trip my full attention. That error in judgment leaves me with more time than I feel comfortable with. You’d be doing me a favor.”

Kate looked skeptical. “My cousin wouldn’t approve.”

“You don’t seem to inhibit your life choices for the sake of his approval.”

“I don’t and that’s a point of contention between us. I wouldn’t want to ruin you’re business relationship if you saw something tonight you can’t unsee.”

“I fear all this warning me away from Porto Santos is only intriguing me more.”

Ferdinand gladly took the appropriate turns to drive them in the opposite direction of her hotel.

Lena didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps a nondescript building or a lounge or even something as simple as a digital cafe. Stepping out of the car she was reminded of Tron, a film she watched the last time she went to rehab. The Arcade was two stories with a balcony. The decor screamed retro. She felt like she walked in the 80’s everyones skin changed colors on the neon jungle. Taylor Dane’s ‘Tell It To My Heart, played over the stereo.

She could see the change in Ferdinand immediately and that’s when she became bothered in this little adventure. His fingers tapped impatiently against his thigh while they waited for a large black door to open. His eyes moved around as if he were impatient for something. She half expected him to start scratching himself and fully realize her suspicions of him as an addict.

They maneuvered through a sea of machines and people playing new and old games. Ferdinand didn’t blink. His stall didn’t stride. Whatever he wanted, this world of wires and tech, was behind the leave groaning door manned by a small Asian man with wire rimmed glasses.

Lena was beginning to curse her boredom and curiosity. 

The Asian man looked behind Ferdinand and shook his head. The driver put his hand on the door before it closed. “I vouch for her,” he said almost desperately. 

This earned Lena another appraising look. The man at the door shook his head, “Not good enough.”

“How much?” Lena asked more from impatience. 

“You’re money is no good here,” said Kate appearing out of nowhere after she’d left them alone for only five minutes. 

The Asian man with the sour face didn’t melt when Kate arrived, but he did let them in.

If the atmosphere from the outside was an ode to Tron then the world beyond the black door was designed after the Matrix.

Ferdinand walked ahead of Kate and Lena, he seemed very eager and not at all as in control when he drove the car.

“This is quite the place you have here.”

“It’s home away from home,” Kate said when the small hall opened up to screens and people in leather lounge chairs. Their eyes were closed. 

“Are they okay?” Lena asked alarmed by the room of seemingly sleeping occupants. 

“They’re perfectly fine,” said Kate as Ferdinand folded his jacket in his lap. Two black objects were placed on his temples. He lay back and smiled at Lena before his closed his eyes. “Ferdinand lost his wife a year ago.”

Lena looked sharply at Kate. “Didn’t he just get married a year ago?”

Kate lead her to metal chairs to the second level where she could get a better view of the operation. “She died a month after the wedding. He comes here to be with her so to speak.”

“Manipulation of the neural map? He’s able to recall memories of his past with her.”

“We got a live one,” a voice called out when both women reached the top of the stairs. Kate raised her middle finger and kicked a booted foot off the arm of a chair she later offered Lena. 

“Don’t mind him, they never taught him manners where he came from,” Kate said and leans against the railing while glaring at Kodee. 

Kodee offered, “Yea don’t mind me. I meant it only as a compliment.” He waved his hand to the crowd below, “It’s strange to see someone come back here and dismiss the chairs. I don’t blame them for wanting to relive a special moment. It doesn’t take long to figure out it’s more than a reverence for the past that has them coming back for more.”

“This isn’t commercial tech,” she observed. “I’ve only heard of a few projects that found mild success with the neural landscape. None of them are close to grazing memories much less something of this scale and magnitude. How?”

“That’s our dirty little secret,” said Kodee putting his hands behind his head. “She’s different than the rest of them.”

“The rest of who.”

Kodee jutted out his chin, “The sleepers.”

Lena followed his gaze to their clientele. She was brought back to her first observation of the silence. Without the music this place would be no different than a cemetery. 

Kodee continued, this time talking to Kate, “If she’s not a sleeper than who is she?”

“She’s a Luthor.”


End file.
